Tips

When planning for your backpacking trip to Haleakala, you’ll want to think carefully about what you bring along with you. The pounds will add up quickly, so you will only want to bring the essentials. With that said, during my four-day backpacking trip through Haleakala, there were a few items that I was very thankful that I brought along and other things that I wished I had. Here’s a list of 10 non-essential luxury times that will likely make your hike in the crater a lot more comfortable.

Lana’i Lookout on the Southern East coast of Oahu offers an ideal spot for Honolulu residents to practice astrophotography. Nestled behind Koko Crater and not too far from Hanauma Bay, this scenic lookout is packed with tourists and experienced divers during the day and offers a wide view of a mostly dark sky at night where the Milky Way is strongly visible during the summer months. While the darkness here does not rival Kaena Point or Mokuleia, it is a shorter drive for the majority of the residents on the island. The first time I would ever shoot stars would be here and I would return multiple times with new gear and ideas.

If you enjoy the outdoors, then Hawaii is an exceptional place to live. Many say that Hawaii has some of the most beautiful beaches and best waves in the world. However, if you look mauka, or towards the mountains, you’ll also notice her beautiful valleys and ridges. Comprised of volcanic rock, Hawaii’s hiking options are unique and in a class of its own. Below are seven reasons why hiking in Hawaii is indeed awesome. However, be warned. A spur of the moment hike might lead to the start of a new hobby, and then a lifelong obsession.

Backpacking through Haleakala Crater is not something that you want to do haphazardly. Careful planning is involved in order to make sure that both you and your crew are fully prepared. In this post, I discuss in detail how we went about planning for our Haleakala backpacking trip. First, some things to note. This was my first time backpacking through the crater. However, we did have one person in our crew that has backpacked through Haleakala on multiple occasions.

There have been a lot of bad press surrounding the Hawaii hiking community, as of late. Over the last three days, there have been four reported incidents of hikers in distress and and two of those incidents resulted in death. 70-year-old Paul Yoon fell between 20-50 feet from the scenic lookout at Mariner’s Ridge on Saturday and 23-year-old Elizabeth Tarpey fell roughly 300 feet from the steep and narrow Puu Manamana trail the following day. In another incident, a 33-year-old man and 13-year-old girl experienced minor injuries from an off-the-beaten path waterfall trail in Manoa, known as Waiakeakua. And on Monday, seven hikers had to be rescued from the Kaau Crater trail in Palolo when they were run off the trail by wild pigs. All four of these trails are non-sanctioned hiking trails.

Update (2/28/2016): We would like to be a part of the solution and not a part of the problem. Below is a collection of articles collected through the years regarding the stairs. We discourage people from attempting this hike while it is closed to the public.

What you should know:

Haiku Stairs is officially closed. It has been closed since 1987.

The stairs is guarded most and/or throughout the entire day.

Those who attempt the hike from the bottom of the stairs are turned away and/or given citations.

Those who begin the hike elsewhere and then come down the stairs are given citations.

Residents of Haiku Village are more than willing to call the police and many make it a point to report hikers upon detection.

Finally, the comments for this post have been turned off as well. From 2011 to 2016, the comments section for this post was a combination of hatred, gratitude, and questioning. More recently, it turned into a quick place to request for a guide. We DO NOT offer guided hikes up to Haiku Stairs.